Good Vs Evil In The Heart Of Darkness

Marlow, Joseph Conrad’s main character, wonders what makes someone good or evil. What determines their behavior? Their experiences or genes?

Marlow must be examined by a physician before he leaves on his trip. In the office of the company, the doctor measures Marlow’s head. He expresses his regret at not being able to see his clients return after their journey and explains how people’s brains change as they travel. Marlow leaves for Africa. Marlow finally reaches his company’s offices after a long trip and has his first exposure to Africa. As he and a local walk through the rainforest, Marlow witnesses men shackled to chains as well as people who are dying. Marlow finds this a horrifying sight. However, he is more shocked to see that his white companion was not affected. The reader then has to consider how the African men live. They are desensitized to human suffering and have little regard for it. It’s not just one man. As he moves through Africa, he comes across more violence, evil, and natives. Kurtz is a character that has been greatly influenced and shaped by the jungle. Kurtz went to the rainforest with the intention of bringing civilization to the natives. At the end of Kurtz’s life, though, he was determined to eradicate them. The jungle is a place that changes people, but how much?

Kurtz wasn’t the only one who wanted to bring civilization to the Africans. They saw themselves as helping humanity and good samaritans. Marlow’s and the audience’s question is whether or not the white men are civilized compared to the natives. Marlow’s first impression of the jungle is a group of white men aiminglessly shooting cannonballs at a beach to fight off what he believes are natives attacking. The way a man views death and murder can be a sign of civilized behavior. Marlow was witness to many incidents where the whites were unconcerned with death and murder. On the contrary, natives are always the ones who suffer the violence and abuse while never initiating it. Marlow shows that Europeans are savage and have an evil sense that natives do not. This calls into question the true nature humans.

Marlow understands that the character of a person is affected by both their experiences and their birth. Although the text may answer some questions, as the reader reads, they are left with many more. Conrad confirms Roland Barthes’ claim that literature is “the question without the answer”.